Deep-sea hydrothermal plumes–waters nearly two miles down in the ocean–are home to processes that effect life across the planet. However, high pressure and water temperatures that exceed 300 degrees Celsius […]
Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Lobster-Shaped Extrasolar Oceans
Alien planets circling the most common stars in the universe may often have strange lobster-shaped oceans on their surfaces, researchers in China now say. What the day side of a […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Global Warming Felt to Deepest Reaches of Ocean
In the mid-1970s, the first available satellite images of Antarctica during the polar winter revealed a huge ice-free region within the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. This ice-free region, […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Deep-diving Sub Alvin Cleared to Return to Service
After a three-year overhaul and major upgrade, the United States’ deepest-diving research submersible, Alvin, has been cleared to return to work exploring the ocean’s depths. The sub has been out […]
Posted inWater/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
A New Dimension to Cyanobacteria
Marine cyanobacteria are the tiny ocean plants that form the base of the ocean’s food chain. Other organisms feed on them and are nourished by the oxygen they provide. Marine […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Oil- and metal-munching microbes dominate deep sandstone formations
Halomonas are a hardy breed of bacteria. They can withstand heat, high salinity, low oxygen, utter darkness and pressures that would kill most other organisms. These traits enable these microbes […]
Posted inIcy Worlds, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Transient Water Vapor at Europa's South Pole
In November and December 2012 the Hubble Space Telescope maged Europa’s ultraviolet emissions in the search for vapor plume activity. We report statistically significant coincident surpluses of hydrogen Lyman-α and […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Geochemical and planetary dynamical views on the origin of Earth's atmosphere and oceans
Earth’s volatile elements (H, C, and N) are essential to maintaining habitable conditions for metazoans and simpler life forms. However, identifying the sources (comets, meteorites, and trapped nebular gas) that […]
Posted inImpact events, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Toxic Ocean Conditions During Major Extinction 93.9 Million Years Ago
Oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean rose dramatically about 600 million years ago, coinciding with the first proliferation of animal life. Since then, numerous short lived biotic events — typically […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Dale Andersen's Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Video: Cold Warriors: Diving for Science in Antarctica
Its a place few people have seen or even imagined, and distant from familiar, everyday surroundings. The weather can be as harsh as the terrain at times with winds and […]